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Frivolous
Lawsuits by
Peary Perry | |
By
the time you read this, I should be lounging around the pool sipping a cool adult
beverage. I will be on a much-needed vacation.
In order to keep focused
and write anything with an objective mind, I think it helps to step away from
the issues at hand we see on a daily basis in order not to become discouraged
and cynical.
I am overdue. I am a cynical person. I need some humor in
my life and to see the glass half full, not half empty.
To give you an
idea of what has done me in this week I offer a few examples.
Earlier
this week, I was notified that I am being sued at one of my job sites. A woman
came in, last year and applied for a job. We told her the starting salary. She
rejected it as being less than she wanted to make. The person doing the interviews
came back to our office. The applicant came in the following Monday and told our
on-site manger she had been hired and that the person doing the interviewing had
her paperwork. Six weeks went by and I got a call from her asking why she had
not been paid. I looked at the current employee list for that location and didn't
find her on the list. I asked her what her employee number was and she didn't
have one. I asked her why and she said…."I never filled out the paperwork since
I didn't agree with what you offered." I asked how she had gotten into the building
and she told me by walking in with other employees.
At this point I sat
back in my chair and asked her if I understood correctly that she had been working
for six weeks, without ever being paid and she told that this was correct. I told
her to report to our office and leave the building. We then figured out what she
should have been paid, and sent her a check. She is suing us since we fired her.
I am frustrated since we didn't hire her in the first place. She was never on
our payrolls, insurance or issued a company id card or time clock card. I have
never had this happen before.
Another situation involved a person who walked
into one of our locations and filled out an application, which was unsolicited.
We did not have any job openings at the time. We shred all applications after
a period of time since they contain personal information. Three months later we
had a vacancy and rehired a former employee to fill the position. The person who
came in and filled out an application is now suing since they didn't get the job.
The frustrating part of this one is that the complaint is from a federal agency.
Now if you've never had to respond to one of these before, consider yourself blessed.
There are about 45 questions that must be answered and returned within 5-7 days.
The really Catch-22 question is one where they are asking for a complete schedule
of all employees by race, sex and age. Now, as you may know when you hire someone
these days, we aren't allowed to ask any of these questions and they cannot be
placed on the application, so how can we provide something to the government that
we are prohibited from asking in the first place? I called and asked that very
question. They said we had to make a separate list and maintain it just in case
it was ever needed for any inquiries such as this. Makes no sense to me whatsoever.
Both of these are bizarre cases and certainly don't have much merit, but the time
and effort to respond to them and provide all of the documentation to prove our
side of the issue is enormous.
It makes you wonder if the moon is full
or perhaps the world has just gone mad.
Along
those same lines, let me make one more point. We are all aware of the current
situation in the Middle East. The news today concerns the evacuation of some of
the Americans out of Lebanon. It seems they are distraught since the ships sent
to help weren't as clean as the evacuees expected and the ship ran out of sandwiches.
Hello? Is anyone home?
Let's see…. have any of you been tempted by the
Lebanon Tourist Department to sign up for a tour of their lovely country? I thought
not. There is a war going on over there. Why are Americans over there in the first
place? I don't know about you, but if I was there for one reason or another and
bombs were falling all over the place, I tend to think the last thing I would
be hacked about is a lack of chicken sandwiches. Or the fact that the water wasn't
really cold enough. I suppose they wanted white tux waiters serving Perrier in
silver tumblers. This is a war zone; you don't get the Queen Mary to pick you
up in a war zone.
You shouldn't complain about how slow they were to arrive.
They got there didn't they?
Stop complaining about the condition of the
ship taking you away to safety. I believe I would be grateful I was going to get
home alive. Most of us could stand to miss a few chicken sandwiches anyway.
Give
me a break.
I'm taking one…be back in a week or so.
©
Peary Perry
Letters From North
America >
July 27, 2006 column
Syndicated weekly in 80 newspapers
Comments go to
www.pearyperry.com | |
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